For 400 years, Taiwanese have been subject to foreign colonizers -- first the Dutch and Spanish, then the Manchu Empire, then the Japanese empire and finally the "Republic of China" KMT Chinese Nationalist Regime of Chiang Kai-shek and his son. In particular the last 100 years of first Japanese then KMT rule were brutal in attempted obliteration of Taiwan's Identity. Herein is chronicled the fight for its recovery.

Monday, June 14, 2010

Wednesday, June 9, 2010

Shared by one young Taiwanese woman: "This song came into my brain lately, it's so beautiful, it talks about a man was far away from home , the sunset reminds him about his hometown, the song was forbidden during White Terror of Taiwan"

Monday, June 7, 2010

Pop singers and songwriters in Taiwan can -- either -- crudely parrot empty patterns of pulp content, melodic lines, and lyrics as predictable as the smell of durian by day and stinky tofu in the night market -- or -- they can use their fame and fortune for something more deep and lasting. Aren't you tired of performing the endless iterations of "I'm such a cute and possibly hot babe!" or "I'm so cool a dude that you'll swoon!"? Turn away from such boring blather and instead fill your songs with lyrics from poems and languages of the rich history and cultural heritage of your island nation.

You can take good poetic lines of, for example, the three Chinese-derived languages of Taiwan -- Mandarin, Taiwanese, or Hakka verses -- and combine them with Austronesian choruses to make beautiful music. In so doing all the languages are given honor and a renewed interest can be kindled in those that are being lost. And with that combination don't forget to marinate with the rhythms and music of these other cultures.

There is another island nation half way across the world where you find such richness in pop music. Consider an exquisite song of the world-famous recording artist - Sting. It is entitled, "Christmas at Sea."

The verses are adapted from an English poem of the great Scottish writer Robert Louis StevensonThe chorus comes from a traditional Scots Gaelic song. (Scots Gaelic is a language under threat of being lost as more and more of the younger generation learn English in the schools in Scotland. See any parallels here in Taiwan?)

The themes of English verse and Scots Gaelic chorus ring convergent: in the lines of the verses, Stevenson's expresses the longing of a seaman to be home on Christmas day; in the chorus, the traditional Scots Gaelic song leads with "Thograinn thograinn bhith dol dhachaidh" "I wish I were going home."

Sting and Mary Macmaster composed the music to fuse these expressions in two beautiful languages of the one great theme of human longing.

Many who listen to this song will then go on to read more of Robert Louis Stevenson, and respect Scots Gaelic as a precious gem.

Taiwanese artists could do the same.But it takes an educated artist. And it is ironic that in Taiwan where parents place such a high value on education, the educated artist is scarce. He or she may know the latest fashion trend of clothes, makeup and hair, but do even a few in this younger generation really know much about their own history and cultural heritage?

The artist must take the time to learn about his own cultural history, folk songs, and writers of the past -- and also, learn to respect those of another culture and language in Taiwan -- for he most certainly has learned very little of this in Taiwan's schools.

Of Taiwan's recording artists, who will rise above the infantile drivel out there? Fighting against pragmatism will win through to lasting depth of beauty.

Don't believe me? Take a listen.--------

Here's a good lower sound-quality live performance:

Download it from iTunes. Listen to it some more. Does it not make you long to know more about the sailing culture and economics of Britain in the past? British poets? More Scots Gaelic songs?

--------Oh, in case you are interested: Sting's song lyrics:

"Christmas at Sea"

All day we fought the tide between the North Head and the SouthAll day we hauled the frozen sheets to 'scape the storm's wet mouthAll day as cold as charity, in bitter pain and dread, For very life and nature we tacked from head to head.

We gave the South a wider berth, for there the tide-race roared;But every tack we made we brought the North Head close aboard:

We saw the cliffs and houses, and the breakers running high,And the coastguard in his garden, his glass against his eye.

The frost was on the village roofs as white as ocean foam;The good red firse were burning bright in every 'longshore home;The windows sparkled clear, and the chimneys volleyed out;And I vowed we sniffed the victuals as the vessel went about.

The bells upon the church were rung with a mighty jovial cheer;For it's just that I should tell you how (of all days in the year)This day of our adversity was blessed Christmas morn,And the house above the coastguard's was the house were I was born.

And well I knew the talk they had, the talk that was of me,Of the shadow on the household and the son that went to sea;And O the wicked fool I seemed, in every kind of way,To be here and hauling frozen ropes on blessed Christmas Day.

Poem by Robert Louis Stevenson, Music by Sting and Mary MacmasterScots Gaelic. The traditional Scottish song 'Thograinn Thograinn' is a women's working-song from the Isle of Skye.

One uses bó͘, "certain; particular," to particularize a mountain without specifically naming which one. Notice that in English the word "certain" has a broader range of meanings whereas Taiwanese uses distinct words.

• Unfortunately, because the R.O.C. government-in-exile suppresses the use of Taiwanese and other non-Mandarin languages in public schools in Taiwan, there is not much opportunity to learn the vocabulary of the non-Mandarin languages associated with an academic setting. Furthermore, few essay or papers in these languages have ever been written by students. The normal editing processes are never experienced. The following Taiwanese expressions describe editing practices.

* Underline this sentence = "kā chit kú ê ē-bīn oē sûn"

oē = draw ; sûn = line ; ē-bīn = underneath

[Notice the homonym: the noun oē 話 in "kú-oē" meaning speech/word and the verb oē 畫 meaning draw/sketch. These two homonyms are obviously different in their Han characters. But actually in the romanization, one has very little trouble differentiating them because of their distinct parts of speech and the noun often being associated in a compound word and the verb often being associated with an object -- e.g. kú-oē "sentence" vs. oē tô͘ "draw a picture" ]

Kho͘ is a verb that means "to circle" ; kho͘-á is the noun that means "a circle" -- just as in English one can say: "Circle this sentence." or "Circle a circle around this sentence." Or to get more fancy you could translate it as "Circumscribe a circle..."

* If the word or phrase is really poorly written, sometimes you should just strike it out. Taiwanese is quite vivid in the way to say that. Jack-the-Ripper fashion, literally, you say "kill/murder/slash that sentence!" = "Kā hit kú-oē thâi-tiāu." or "murder that word..." = "Kā hit jī thâi-tiāu." This word "thâi," meaning kill/murder/slash w/knife, is also what someone who is good at bargaining can do: Kā i thâi kè-siàu. "Cut/kill the price."

• Poa̍h-kiáu 賭博 means "gambling." In the fall of 2009 there was a referendum being held in Phêⁿ-ô͘ (Penghu or the Pescadores) on whether or not to allow gambling casinos ( kiáu-keng ). Unfortunately, gambling profits are often controlled by organized crime ( o͘-siā-hōe ) and corrupt government officials ( tham-ù ê chèng-hú ). Where you find casinos you also find drugs ( to̍k-phín ), violence ( po̍k-le̍k ), sexual crimes ( sek-chêng ), and human trafficking ( jîn-kháu ê bé-bē) where the victims are controlled with drugs ( iōng to̍k-phín khòng-chè in ). A few people or mafia organizations can make huge profits off gambling, but for most residents, there is no benefit ( hó-chhù ) but rather an accumulation of societal problems -- particularly addiction in its various forms.

· Taiwanese still has the saying with variations that basically translate as "An Austronesian Grandmother and a Hoklo Grandfather" --- For example,

"Ū tn̂g soaⁿ-kong, bô Tn̂g-soaⁿ-má." -- "Have a Han grandfather, but no Han grandmother..." With that intermarriage of Austronesian and Han that makes up today's Taiwanese people, I thought it would be interesting to share some marriage and kinship related terms:

Chheⁿ-ḿ 生姆 or originally written 青姆 means a son or daughter's mother-in-law. Mandarin uses a different word: 親家母

This expression "teh ùn tāu-iû" is used in social circumstances to describe very short visits. If someone "drops by" and then leaves, it is like dipping food in soy sauce.

This expression is also very appropriate to describe the attitude of the Chinese Nationalists of Chiang Kai-shek's regime. They treated Taiwan as a temporary place from which they would fight back to China. They spoke of winning back China within three years after fleeing as refugees to Taiwan in 1949. So you can notice today that all the beautiful architecture is mainly from the Japanese era (pre-1945). The KMT regime put up many hasty structures, allowed squatter shack communities of former soldiers to take over many of the parks in the cities, and generally allow industry to heavily pollute the environment and degrade the landscape because they thought of Taiwan mainly as a resource to be exploited before heading back to China.

These two words are what the colonialist KMT Chinese Nationalist Party and the Japanese empire before them in Taiwan did in an attempt to destroy Taiwan's native languages.

• "developed baby fat from nursing" hàng-leng

When a nursing infant grows well with lots of fat rolls, one does not call the infant the common words for "fat" such as pûi-ê or tōa-kho͘-ê. Taiwanese has this special word hàng-leng for "baby fat." If you say that about a baby, the mother will be very delighted to receive the complement. Incidentally, the word tōa-kho͘ literally means "large circumference" and kho͘ specifically refers to the metal bands that circle around the old wooden buckets and hold the pieces of wood together. (Or think of whiskey barrels.)

In Taiwan, you can still sometimes bargain for things you buy. But unlike Thailand, it is usually pretty standardized so that people are not automatically marking up the price 400 percent because you are a foreigner. So even if you do not bargain, you can get a decent price in Taiwan.